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In December 1917, the temperance movement achieved its goal when Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, transportation, import, or export of intoxicating spirits to or from the United States or its territories. The amendment was sent to the states and ratified in January 1919. In January 1920, the United States officially became dry. However, the demand for alcohol did not stop with prohibition. Those who were willing to break the law saw an opportunity to respond to this demand and enrich themselves in the process. Illegal stills produced the alcohol needed to make „bath gin“. Rum and other foreign spirits were often smuggled into the country from the east and northwest coasts, and illegal drinking establishments known as speakeasies, or blind pigs, proliferated. The illegal production and distribution of alcohol, known as smuggling, spawned a multi-billion dollar underground business run by a criminal syndicate. Wherever an understanding has been divinely enlightened, wherever a heart has been opened to receive the gospel of God, there is an „evangelical spirit.“ The language of this is: „You, O Christ, are all that I want, more than anything in you, I find it.

Your righteousness prevails to justify me before God. Your Holiness is my sanctification. Your blood takes away my dirt. Your merits meet my unworthiness. Your strength is sufficient for my weakness. Your wealth covers all my needs. I heard Your voice, Lord Jesus, don`t tell me anything else. I have seen Your face, Lord Jesus, my whole soul is satisfied. Again, we are using a term that does not appear in so many letters and syllables in the pages of Scripture. Although its sound is not heard, it is certainly its meaning and substance – and it is a sound that we can hardly avoid if we want to express ourselves with precision and intelligence. While all human beings are essentially „legalistic“ by nature, no one but those for whom the gospel of Christ was made God`s power for salvation possesses a truly „evangelical“ spirit.

The concepts are opposites, as are darkness and light, servitude and freedom. The Pharisees were looking for the gotcha moment. They tried to trap Jesus. They were more concerned with whether it was permissible to heal on the Sabbath than with man`s needs and well-being. They followed the letter of the law. Jesus saw the stubborn hearts of the Pharisees. He also recognized the man`s condition and distress and knew that he had the power to heal him. He decided to do good and heal man. He followed the spirit of the law.

1 – Love God firstIf we learn something from what Jesus said, the most important thing is to love God. If you truly love God, it will affect your obedience, worship, prayer, and the way you treat others. This will bring the Spirit of the Law alive in your hearts. In Wechsler`s study, 44 percent of students surveyed said they drank binge drinking at least once in the two weeks prior to the survey, defined as five consecutive drinks in a row for men or four in a row for women. (Wechsler defined binge drinking at a lower drinking level for women because women`s bodies take longer to metabolize alcohol, causing them to be affected by smaller amounts in a given period of time.) Nineteen percent of all students surveyed were frequent drinkers, meaning they had at least three binge eating attacks recently. In the same way, a spirit of legality impels every born listener to pervert the gospel. Although the Gospel is precisely adapted to the urgent need of fallen man, it is far from being at the height of his proud heart. She calls him to „see the Lamb of God,“ but to do so he must look away from himself—that is, he must surrender, deny himself, reject any „imaginary goodness“ within himself—and this is something he is very far from ready to submit. The gospel is a revelation of pure grace, of sovereign mercy, of undeserved favor—the sacrifice of enriching the spiritual poor, clothing spiritually naked sinners, and saving sinners from hell—but it is something that the self-righteous and independent heart of fallen man cannot tolerate! Yet few are open enough to openly confess their aversion to divine grace; On the contrary, the masses pretend to admire it and claim to receive it. But in fact, they still rely on their own religious achievements and simply bring Christ as a weight to satisfy their shortcomings. In reality, they believe in grace plus works, Christ plus something of themselves.

It should be noted, however, that if every „evangelical mind“ is the opposite of a „legal“ mind, it is also the opposite of a „licentious“ mind. Christ saves His people „from their sins“ (Matthew 1:21).